


Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream

by parttimefemmefatale (writingramblr)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Creepy, Episode AU: s07e13 Nightmare in Silver, F/M, Friday the 13th - Freeform, Mental Instability, Psychological Warfare, Rose is a BAMF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3346940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingramblr/pseuds/parttimefemmefatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose has been traveling with the Doctor for a while now, but this is the first occasion where she's seen him on the edge of losing his mind.<br/>Can he hold on long enough for her to find a way to save him, or will the Cyber-Planner win?<br/>And who's really in control and speaking to Rose with his voice?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream

**Author's Note:**

> I feel this sort of AU was begging to be written, and as a Rose/Every Doctor shipper, I couldn't help it.
> 
> We all know where the story title came from ....

_‘Rose! Rose it’s not really me…please don’t listen to him._

_Don’t let him win._

_I’m fighting him as best I can._

_But I don’t think I can do it alone.’_

***

Rose Tyler stares hard at the man before her, who looks almost like her Doctor, but the cold expression of manic glee is not like him.

Then he turns to her, and she sees it.

A spiderweb of silver and lights on his face.

He’s been taken over by the Cybermen.

He’s not completely “Upgraded” but he’s no longer himself.

Still, it doesn’t keep her from stepping slowly towards him, and whispering, hoping she doesn’t sound as desperate as she feels,

“Doctor?”

***

Oh this is nice.

This is different.

Not human, not at all, but so much more.

She’s delicious to look at.

With the Doctor’s time sense, he can see it.

He sees the golden light dancing around her. He’s about to try and read her mind when the penny drops.

Heavy walls crash down around the Doctors mind, and he can’t dare probe the girl before him.

Well, woman.

Well…she’s something.

She’s protected by it.

Time itself winds around her every cell and delights in it.

He shakes his head.

Why does he care about this poetry?

He just needs to defeat the Doctor.

But he’ll need her help.

Unwilling or not.

He grins, and watches her flinch away with disgust.

Oh she’ll like him, when he gives her the pretty words the Doctor has clearly been holding back.

“Hello Rose.”

He sees her swallow, and he wonders if it’s for courage and strength, or simply because her throats gone dry.

“Doctor?”

She repeats, and he instantly loves the sound.

Her fear is beautiful.

She’s less sure.

“Yes of course Rose. It’s me. They put this thing on me, but I won’t let them win.”

He contorts his face, and he sees her expression flicker, change, and she’s suddenly even more unsure.

Is he her Doctor?

Or is it a trick?

He fights the urge to rub his hands together in satisfaction.

***

_‘NO!_

_No Rose!_

_Don’t believe it._

_He’s trying to make you think he’s me._

_Don’t listen to a word he says!’_

_He fights, he pounds his fists against the invisible walls, and there’s a sliver of a crack, but he thinks he’s just imagining it._

_  
***_

Rose took another step towards him, and she felt her trainer squeak on the polished concrete.

Everything in the entire factory was perfectly clean and shiny, and she hated it.

It reeked of Cybermen.

A living nightmare.

The lights flashed on the side of the Doctor’s face, giving his skin an almost ethereal glow, and she fought the feeling to look away from his green eyes.

She wanted to believe it was him. That he was okay. He was fighting the thing that was trying to take over his brain.

“What did they do to you? What is that?”

The Doctor winced, and she shrunk back, thinking he’d been hurt by an electric shock or something similar.

“It’s a Cyber-planner. It’s trying to take over my mind. But I won’t let it. I’m much too clever for it.”

Rose made the decision to cross the space between them, and she reached for his hand.

He managed a small smile, and then blinked once, twice at her, inhaling sharply.

Rose squeezed his fingers in hers,

“What is it Doctor?”

His voice sounded raspy, and not at all calm.

“ _Rose, he’s lying to you. I’m trying to hold him off, keep him out, but he’s so strong!”_

The Doctor shook his head and coughed,

“Whoo! I don’t think that’s going to work Mr. Cyber-planner…no siree.”

Rose frowned,

“Was that the thing speaking through you?”

The Doctor nodded,

“Oh yes. He’s doing his best to control my brain. Thinks he can outfox me.”

Rose bit her lip, and fidgeted on her feet,

“Well I’m here. I’m going to help however I can. Tell me what I can do.”

The Doctor’s eyes suddenly dropped from her own to her lips.

She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t suddenly feel flushed.

The air in the room seemed to shrink in on her.

That had been her first thought before rational had returned.

A kiss of life.

She’d almost done it once before.

At Lake Silencio.

“Rose. You’re wonderful. You’ve been by my side so long. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I love you.”

Rose’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, and she felt herself beginning to beam.

“Really? And it’s taken how many near death experiences to get you to admit that?”

The Doctor waggled his eyebrows,

“Well you know me, I’m a daft idiot who can’t ever tell the woman of my dreams, quite naughty ones sometimes, how I feel.”

He tugged her hand, and pulled her into his arms, and she was so caught up in the moment, she didn’t bother to wonder why it would make a difference now to do it.

***

_‘Oh you have gone too far!_

_You dare touch Rose!_

_You kiss her with my lips!_

_You tell her my deepest secret?_

_NO.’_

_His tears are hot as they fall onto his cheeks, but they turn cold soon enough in the wasteland that is his unconscious mind._

_***_

Rose felt hands on her waist, but instead of pulling her close, they push her away roughly.

She fell backwards and nearly knocked herself out on the concrete if not for having thrown her elbows out.

“What the hell?”

She didn’t mean to shout, but the Doctor had snogged her for about five seconds, which she’d thoroughly enjoyed, before he’d cut it short by shoving her away.

She looked up at him in annoyance, and was stunned by his expression.

It wasn’t anything like she’d expected.

Shocked maybe, stunned at his own actions, or even an attempt to apologize.

He looked twisted again. Like he had when she’d first entered the room and spotted him.

Unsettled and gleeful.

“Oh yes. That’s much better. You on the floor before me. you should do it more often. After all, I’m a time lord, and you’re just a human. Well, mostly.”

Rose gaped at him.

“What?”

“Yes Rose. It’s true. I’m destroying your precious Doctor’s brilliant brain one neuron at a time, and I’m loving every second. I knew if I kissed you too long, you’d figure it out. Couldn’t have you too close to the hardware.”

The Doctor tapped the side of his face gently, and the lights seemed to flicker in agreement.

Rose suddenly felt nauseous.

He wasn’t the Doctor at all.

That one moment of clarity had been her only warning.

‘He’s so strong.’

Strong and clever.

Rose got to her feet shakily, and tried to keep from hyperventilating.

For all she knew, it was much too late, and the Doctor was already locked away inside his own mind, unreachable and unrescueable.

“You’re not my Doctor.”

The Cyber-planner infested time lord grinned.

“Finally got there? Lovely. Glad you could join us. I’m not your Doctor. I know I look just like him though…that’s awfully confusing I’m sure, for your simple human brain. Call me….Mister Clever. Oh I quite like that.”

Rose stepped back from him, only then beginning to notice the aching pain in her arms from landing on them, watching as he played with the Doctors purple coat, straightening the collar and smoothing the grey tie at his throat.

“Simple human brain am I? Surely that’s not true. You can read the Doctor’s thoughts. You’ve all his memories. Every single time he’s been in trouble, I’ve saved him. I’m going to do it again too. You aren’t going to win. You’ve already lost.”

Hitting the ground had reminded Rose of the most important thing she possessed.

Inside her jeans pocket, which the Doctor had made trans-dimensional, she had his Sonic.

He’d passed it to her earlier in the day, asked her to go off and check something in another room, and he’d split from her side. He’d vanished, and of course she knew they never should have left each other’s side.

He’d gone off and gotten infected.

Mister Clever looked mildly amused.

“Is that so? Poor thing. It seems your Doctor isn’t so great if he needs to be rescued by a girl every time he gets in a spot of trouble. At least you’re a pretty thing. Isn’t she Doc?” he paused, as if waiting for a silent reply from the Doctor’s conscious, and Rose flinched away, easing her hand closer to her back pocket.

“She is! I can even see what you look like naked, thanks to his wonderful imagination. And actually, psychic connection with his…what’s it called? Oh yes. TARDIS. A Time and space ship. How intriguing and useful to the Cybermen armada that will be.”

Rose felt her skin crawling and she filed away that subtle information for later.

There were more important things at hand.

Like the metal and glass at her fingertips.

***

_‘Rose…please._

_Help me.’_

_He feels weak._

_He sees light fading._

_But then!_

_Fire blooms in his vision, and he’s breathing._

_***_

 

 

“No more Mister Clever!”

Rose held the Sonic right up to the Doctor’s face, aimed at the spiderweb of silver, and turned it on, not sure of the setting, but trusting it to save the Doctor’s life.

It worked, somehow, some way.

The lights shut off, each dying like a burning flame.

The entire web fizzled, and fell off with a soft clunk to the floor.

Rose dropped the Sonic as well, and rushed to catch him before he could hit the ground next.

“Doctor? Are you alright? Can you hear me? We need to get out of here. I don’t know how long that thing will stay off. There could be an entire army heading our way.”

Never had the Doctor looked so young and vulnerable than in that moment, in her arms.

“Rose? Is it really you?”

She reached out to stroke his face, noting how there wasn’t a mark on him from the device.

His green eyes looked lost for a moment, before they focused on her.

“Yes it’s me. You’re okay. You didn’t give in. You stayed strong.”

The Doctor’s green eyes welled up with tears, and Rose felt her heart nearly break.

“I’m so sorry. I couldn’t do better. I couldn’t stop him from hurting you.”

Rose shrugged, and fought to smile,

“I’m fine. He didn’t do much more than give me the usual amount of bruises I get from our adventures.”

The Doctor shook his head,

“I don’t care. I’m fixing them as soon as we’re back in the TARDIS. But Rose…you saved me. Like you always do. You told him. I heard it. You’re so right. Without you, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d be lost. So thank you.”

Rose felt herself blushing but she hoped he wouldn’t notice in the dim lighting of the factory.

“We need to go.”

She hoped her voice sounded more confident than she felt.

She still had her eye on the device lying only a few feet away from them, certain it would come back to life at any second and try to rob the Doctor of his senses.

He nodded,

“Of course yes. My Sonic if you please?”

With her help, he got to his feet, and she leaned over to snag the gold and green tool, hesitating only a moment before handing it to him.

“Geronimo?”

He waited for her to nod, and then he reached for her hand, which she gladly gave.

“Let’s go stop the Cyber-Planner once and for all.”

 

They left the room quickly, and Rose didn’t look back.

Lucky thing.

If she had, she would have seen the device twitch before lighting up and rebooting.

One pulse from the sonic wasn’t enough to kill a Cyberman.

Only enough to stun it.

***  
**END?**

 

 


End file.
